In my opinion Oilers won the trade with Neal for Lucic and it’s not even close. But at the same time I think there’s better options to be had right now for trade or ones that can open up in the offseason in terms of a top 6 winger. He just doesn’t fit on that 1st line, he needs to be faster, a better passer or at least more defensively minded. His goal scoring rate has been relatively slowing down. Now we can put him on the third line but at that point I don’t think Khaira or Chaisson can be on this team anymore if that’s the case and we need a faster 3rd line center like Pageau or Haula to accommodate him. I just think there’s a market for potential 25-30 goal scorer (at 19 now). So what’s the price if so? With his contract and term

Oilers are stuck with that contract for a little while longer at least. They managed to get rid of Lucic for him but pulling another fast one on someone else will be damn near impossible to do IMO. Unless its another Neal for Lucic type deal.

Neal is a negative value contract still. He's a power play guy that doesn't play well 5 on 5 and he has to play in the top six, competitive teams have their top six filled already with players much better than Neal and a rebuilding team has no need for Neal? He stays with the Oilers or the Oilers pay to get rid of him

Neal won't have a whole of value, best case scenario is Oil move him for another underperforming player with a similar contract but a different position, I'd be calling Poli over in Nash and inquiring if he has any interest in a Neal/Turris swap in the offseason. Turris solves the 3 C hole (mind you a little high on cap) allows RNH to say in the top 6 as LW. And with teams concentrating on shutting down McD and Dria Turris could flourish in that 3C spot

The only way we get rid of him is if we pay Seattle to take him in the expansion draft.

A slow defensive liability 32 year old making $5.75M for the next 4 years? Give me a first round draft pick and retain half of his salary and I'll give you a 7th rounder.

Columbus might be a potential trading partner. The Blue Jackets need help scoring, both at 5-on-5 and the power play. They also have quite a bit of cap space, a discouraging history with free agents, and a young core that will benefit from more veteran leadership. Neal is a pretty solid bet, if he's deployed properly. It's a stretch, Holland doesn't have many additional assets that he can afford to add in order to soften the impact of Neal's AAV and term.

Throw in Jp would that work? Lets not overestimate how bad he is.

I wouldn't add Puljujarvi, that is far too generous. No coach should be depending on Neal to play a solid 200-foot game, but he has value. He was injured through the latter half of the past season, and yet managed 19 goals in total. I think a more reasonable approach would be some salary retention, rather than adding assets to sweeten the pot. If Holland agreed to retain up to $2,000,000 then I think Neal becomes a pretty attractive option for teams that want a big-bodied, power play specialist that remains capable of 20 goals/season.

I would rather be done with him and get rid of JP because than the Oilers could get like say Mike Hoffman to play with Mcdavid i think Hoffman would be a great fit in Edmonton.